My African trip was funded by a Multi-Cultural
grant from the International Education Department at College of
DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The countries visited included
South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. A group of 32 from the college
made the trip in August, 1998. The focus of the trip was both
the nature and culture of Southern Africa.Our leaders were two
faculty members from the College of DuPage. Tom Lindblade is one
of the founders of the successful Field Studies Program and Andy
Thompson teaches Biology. They were both excellent resources for
the students travelling with them. When we arrived in Africa,
we were met by our guides Wayne and Lido from African Adventures.
They provided a lot more information as we travelled. The trip
was a tented safari. We travelled in custom safari vehicles and
camped nearly every night. My website contains a detailed trip
journal and many images from my experience.
The trip is still like a kaleidoscope of
images to me. The countries we visited have strong visual aesthetics.
I would guess there are many more fine artists in the relatively
small country of Zimbabwe per capita than here in the United States.
It seemed that everyone is encouraged to make art, and you see
it everywhere. There seemed to be a lot more artwork for sale,
than there are buyers. This is a shame because the quality of
the work is very high. We saw thousands of wood and stone carvings
for sale throughout Zimbabwe, as well as beautiful fabrics and
traditional ceremonial objects.
Spirituality is much more prominent in Southern
African culture than in our country. There are many tribes with
cultures still intact, enjoying a revival since the end of apartheid.
In my ignorance, what had seemed one large area where Black Africans
had recently been liberated from their colonial governments split
into a mosaic of different cultures. We encountered Shona, Ndebele,
Matebele, Venda, British Rhodesian, British South Africans and
Afrikaaners. There are also many tribal groups in these countries
that we didn’t have the opportunity to learn much about,
but my interest is now piqued to do so.
One of my goals was to study the art and
culture in this land that is so far away from my own native land.
I photographed the colors and textures I saw. I noticed that the
landscape, especially at this time of year is very earthy. I’ve
never seen so many variations of brown and gold. The subtlety
of color is wonderful. The real beauty in this landscape is in
the contrast between a brightly colored house or piece of clothing
in contrast to the earthy background. A red flower, a blue house,
or the flames of a fire stand out in a startling way. This kind
of color palette was repeated over and over in artwork, weavings,
fabric, masks, drums, and the painted decoration on houses. The
art really is informed by the landscape in a way you rarely see
in this country.
